The Sleeper - Emily Barr

3.5/5

Lara Finch is bored. Terribly bored. She lives in an ideal little house in picturesque Devon, with her all too perfect husband, Sam, but she's not happy. Following failed IVF attempts, their family is incomplete and their marriage is falling apart. Sam wants to try and adopt. Lara wants to move on.

When the chance at a job in London presents itself, Lara jumps at it. She begins to regularly take the sleeper train to London every Sunday night, only returning home on Friday nights. Distance begins to grow between her and Sam, but she feels alive again, part of something important.

Then - she disappears. Boarding the sleeper train back to Devon one Friday, she never arrives, leaving Sam and her only Devon based friend, Iris floundering for explanations and clues as to what has happened.

A past that her husband had no idea about has finally caught up with Lara, and she's very soon wishing for her quiet life back in Devon again!

The Sleeper is a story which travels. I found it a little slow at the start, perhaps bordering on predictable, but then when the twist comes and the story delves in to Lara's secret past, it pick up speed and becomes a lot more interesting. The first half of the story is from Lara's perspective, but she doesn't give away much. She seems childish, spoiled and a bit of a brat. It hints at a checkered past but doesn't give much away. The second half is from Iris's point of view - Lara's Devon based friend who is hiding from a tragic past of her own. The books a bit slow in places and not all the characters are as well drawn as they might be, but makes for quite a good read anyway.